In August, I compiled a list of the best books of 2021 that I had read. I thought that was going to be my only list of the year because I was about to start school and wasn’t sure how much time I could commit to reading. I realized that my dissociation this year took the form of reading, so I added another 41 books to my 2021 reads. This year I read 63 books which is a record for me. I read a lot of good books, a few great books (like in this post), and some books that weren’t a great use of my time. In this post, I am going over part 2 of the best books of 2021!
If you want to check out part one of my best books of 2021, you can click here.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I get compensated a small amount if purchased through one of these links at no extra cost to you. I always only link products I truly love and any profit made goes to running this blog. I also only suggest buying things you really want or need! Most of these books can be found at the library which I highly recommend if you can’t afford to buy books. Thank you for your support! For more on my disclaimers, you can click here.
The Best Books of 2021 – Part 2
This list isn’t in any specific order of how much I liked them. Each of these books I rated 5 stars on Goodreads.
1. Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Read if: You love plot twists, you like books that follow previous cold cases, you have enjoyed Mary Kubica’s previous thrillers.
This is not my first thriller by Mary Kubica, and none of them disappoint. They are easy reads with plot twists and a good mystery aspect. Local Woman Missing was no exception as it followed the disappearance of a mom and her daughter, 11 years later when the child returns. This book was rated an average of 4.10 on Goodreads. A link to the book can be found here.
2. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Genre: Romance
Read if: You love a love triangle, you like multiple timelines, you want to read a cheesy romance novel that is well written.
I picked up this book because it is very popular on booktok, along with every other Colleen Hoover book. I only read a few romance novels because I find that they don’t always have the best writing, despite good plot lines (ex. After, Twilight, etc.). It Ends With Us is very well written, along with having a good plot! Trigger warning for if you are wanting to read this – domestic abuse is a big component. I’m glad I picked up this book this year. It Ends With Us was rated an average of 4.43 on Goodreads and a link to pick it up can be found here.
3. Circe
Genre: Fantasy, Retellings
Read if: You enjoy reading about Greek mythology retellings, you love a strong female lead.
This book was a big component for the best book that I have read the entire year. Circe is another popular booktok book, which is how I found it. It got me into Greek Mythology retellings, which I had not previously read about in novel form. Previously, I had not known anything about Circe, which I think was to my advantage since this wasn’t a retelling to me, it was a new plot. If you have any interest in Greek mythology, I couldn’t recommend this book enough! This book was rated an average of 4.26 on Goodreads. A link can be found here.
4. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Genre: Horror, Fiction
Read if: You want to step into the horror genre (but don’t want something too gory or scary!), you love books that take place in the 90’s, you want to read a book about Suburban moms hunting vampires.
If I could describe this book in any way, it would be Desperate Housewives meets vampires. I loved the show Desperate Housewives, and I love the paranormal twist so this book was perfect! I would say that the treatment of the wives by the husbands is not good, which is something that I think deters a lot of people. This book is rated an average of 3.83 on Goodreads. You can find a link to the book, here.
5. Malibu Rising by Taylor Reid Jenkins
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Read if: You dream of spending your days surfing in Malibu, you love family drama, you want to relive what it’s like to live in California in the 60s- 80s.
Malibu Rising hooked me from the start! I previously read Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Reid Jenkins, which I liked but didn’t love. This is her latest book after overtaking booktok with Evelyn Hugo and the Seven Husbands (which I haven’t read yet). This book makes me want to go buy her other books because even though there weren’t specific events that made the plot incredible, the DRAMA and the characters!! They really made this book great. This book has an average Goodreads rating of 4.11. A copy of this book can be found here.
6. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Genre: Greek Mythology Retelling
Read if: You are fascinated by Greek Mythology, you love a strong female lead, you like long timelines, you want a book with twists and turns.
THIS BOOK. I was not previously familiar with Ariadne, but she is most known for being the sister of the Minotaur. She helped Theseus, who killed the Minotaur and was set to run away with him. I am not going to give too many spoilers because I think this book is so enjoyable because the story goes to unexpected places. If you are at all interested in Greek Mythology, you have to read this book! Ariadne has such an interesting life. This may have been my favorite book of 2021! This book was rated an average of 3.83 on Goodreads (far too low in my opinion). I got my copy through Book of the Month, but you can find it on Amazon here.
Those are the Best Books of 2021 That I Read!
I would love to hear what books you ended up loving in 2021 in the comments! If you have read any of the books I mentioned above, what did you think?
For more book-related posts, I linked some that I have previously posted below. I never repeat a book on a list (even though I still haven’t read most of these and they are still on my evergrowing TBR).
- 9 Books to Read in 2021
- 9 Books that Should be on Your 2022 TBR
- The Best Books I’ve Read During Quarantine
If you want to try Book of the Month, you can use my referral code to get your first book for $5 by clicking here.
